Automatic shoe machines



May 3, 1955 o. R. HAAs AUTOMATIC SHOE MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet l Original Filed June 12. 1951 Illl Illlllll May 3, 1955 o. R HAAs AUTOMATIC SHOE MACHINES Original Filed June 12, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventar lOtto Haas May 3, 1955 o. R. HAAs 2,707,290

AUTOMATIC sHoE MACHINES Inventor Otto Haas United States Patent O AUroMATIC sHoE MACHINES tto R. Haas, Wenham, Mass., assignor to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application June 12, 1951, Serial No. 231,082. Divided and this application September 5, 1952, Serial No. 308,130

6 Claims. (Cl. 12M-17.2)

The present invention relates to improvements in machines for operating automatically about the margin of a shoe sole while supported on a last and more particularly to a machine similar in many respects to that illustrated in United States Letters Patent No. 2,359,662, granted October 3, 1944, upon application of A. R. Morrill and identical to that disclosed in an application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 231,082, filed June l2, 1951, of which the present application is a division. The machine, in which the illustrated embodiment of the invention is disclosed, has a shoe supporting jack and actuating mechanisms for imparting positioning and feeding movements to the jack to cause the jacked shoe to be presented to the operating devices and to transfer the operation about the shoe as the shoe is fed.

The principal objects of the invention are to simplify and improve the operation of an automatic machine for lasting and sewing a shoe and to render the machine more easily controlled, accurate and reliable in the performance of its operating devices on a shoe and in the positioning movements imparted to the shoe while it is being fed.

In a machine of the type referred to, the positioning movements of a jacked shoe are imparted primarily by pattern mechanism including a cam shaft driven a complete 36 rotation for each shoe operated upon and driving and stopping mechanism controlled in part by a foot treadle connected rod. The operator actuates a treadle connected to the rod to start the machine and the pattern cam shaft itself acts on the rod to bring the machine to rest, the shoe mounted on the jack being pressed by yielding means against the operating devices in the machine.

In carrying out the present invention a machine of the type referred to is provided with a toggle arranged when straightened to move the jacket shoe against the yielding *if action of the yielding means to disengage the shoe from the operating devices, and a pedal connected non-yieldingly to the toggle is so arranged that it is operable independently of and in opposition to the pattern mechanism to break the toggle by positive mechanical connections rather than indirectly by an impositive spring action, so that the jacked shoe may be moved against or away from the operating means, either, with a downward pressure on the pedal connected to the toggle. This is accomplished in the illustrated embodiment of the invention by employing a spring acting on the toggle to straighten it when the pedal is depressed instead of in a direction to break the toggle as in a prior machine of this type disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,581,272, granted January 1, 1952, upon application of John R. Miller.

Other features of the invention include the use of a single jack centering spring arranged to bias a jack supporting assembly to an intermediate position with a more effective and a more advantageous manner of operation than previously utilized with similar mechanisms of prior machines.

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The several features of the invention consist also in the devices, combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed, which together with the advantages to be obtained thereby will readily be understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a view in right side elevation of the machine embodying the several features of the invention and illustrating a shoe partly in section at the point ot' operationl of the operating devices;

Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view looking from the right of a portion of the jack supporting and controlling mechanisms, shown in positions assumed when the machine is at rest;

Fig. 3 is a similar view of the same parts shown in positions assumed during operation of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a detail plan view partly in section illustrating the pitch and roll actuating mechanism for the jack; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail view on an enlarged scale of a jack centering spring shown in Fig. 4, as viewed along the line V-V of Fig. 1.

The automatic machine illustrated in the drawings is constructed for sewing the inseams of Goodyear welt shoes and comprises a hollow column shaped support or main machine frame made up of several parts including a floor section 2, housing foot treadlc controls and jack raising mechanism, a mid-section 4, housing jack supporting and pattern cam controlled actuating mechanismfor the jack and a head section 6, housing welt sewing and driving and stopping mechanisms for the machine. The driving and stopping mechanisms act in stopping the machine to reverse the operating devices before bringing them to rest. The operating devices for sewing are arranged to insert a chain stitch seam and include a curved hook needle 8 movable in the line of feed, a thread traction or tension wheel 10 (Fig. l) mounted on a shaft 12, a work feeding channel guide 14, and a welt guide 16. As the operation of the stitch forming devices progresses the stitches of the inseam pass through the insole, the upper and a welt 18 carried by the welt guide 16.

The shoe supporting jack is indicated at 20 (Fig. l) and consists of an upright spindle similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,406,306, granted August 20, 1946, upon an application of A. R. Morrill.

` At the upper end of the spindle a shoe 19 is secured in the usual way by clamping, the clamping parts thereupon being locked in or released from clamping position.

The jack supporting and pattern cam actuating mechanisms (Figs. l and 4) include a supporting structure formed by the supporting spindle on the jack 20, a horizontal supporting arm 22 at the forward end of which the lower end of the jack spindle is pivotally mounted to rotate and swing with tipping and turning movements in any direction on gimbal joints 23, a pitch support lever 24 on which the arm 22 is mounted to swing vertically and a l roll support lever or frame 26 pivotally mounted at its lower end in the frame section 4 so as to swing about a horizontal axis 28 and upon which the pitch support lever 24 is pivotally mounted to swing about a substantially vertical axis 30. These parts are arranged to permit rotational movement of the jack and the shoe thereon on the horizontal supporting arm 22 and roll and pitch tipping movements over a wide range of angles to bring the shoe into proper relation to the stitch form-ing and work feeding devices of the sewing head as the point of operation is transferred about the shoe.

To raise the jack and present the shoe uniformly in engagement with the channel guide 14 the horizontal jack supporting arm 22 has connected to it the upper end of a rod 32, the lower end of which is connected to yielding means. The yielding means including a jack support lever in the form of a bell crank 34 (see Figs. 2 and 3) is mounted to turn on a pivot shaft 36 in the floor section 2 of the frame. A downwardly extending arm of the bell crank 34 is connected to a pair of tension springs' 3S stretched between the bell crank andl the floor' section of the frame.

The mechanism for actuating the jack support-ing' structure includes a feed link 40 (Fig. 1) connected to the jack and other links and levers actuated by a series of cams 42 on a vertical pattern cam shaft 44 rotating in: the jack supporting section- 4` of the frame. The machine as thus far described is* essentially of the same construction and mode of operation as that of Patent No. 2,359,662, above referred to.

The pattern cam shaft drive and its actuating connectionsV are illustrated in Fig. l'. For bringing thel pattern camv shaft 44' to its final stopping position at the end of an operation on a shoe, auxiliary mechanism is thrown into operation` asv the machine is brought to rest after the stitch formingdevices have been stopped'.

After removing a sewn shoe and applying a new shoe tothe jack, the machine is restarted iny operation by' depressing a treadle control rod 46 extending vertically and pivotally connected to a forwardly extending arm of a yieldingly raised starting treadle in. the forml of a lever 48, best shown in Fig. l. The treadle lever normally is held raised when the machine is stopped and is depressed against the force of a spring (not shown) in startingy the machine. As soonv as the treadle is depressed the treadle rod 46 isi locked in lowered position untilthe operation of the machine is completed and the rod is released as the operation is being completed.

The treadle lever 48 is connected to cont-rolly the driving and stopping mechanism in a manner similar to that' disclosed` in Patent No. 2,359,662. tions between the treadle lever and the drivingy and stoppingv mechanism include the treadle connected rod 46, a forked: arm 50 through the fork of whichthe upper end of the treadle rod passes, a spring 52 carried by the rody 46, a rockshaft 54 to which the arm 50 is secu-red, connections within the machine frame for shifting a driven clutchk member 56 toward and from a driving clu-tch member 58, the driven clutch member being connected to anaxially disposed stub shaft 60 mounted in the mid-section 4 ofthe machine frame and rotatably connected to a driving gear 62 for the pattern cam shaft 44.

To lock the treadle rod in depressed running position it is provided with a notch 64 (Fig. 1) arranged to be engaged by a. horizontal latch comprising a bar 66 op-` erated byy the driving. andi stopping mechanism andi the m pattern cam shaft 44` in al manner more fully describedin the patent just referred to. The latch bar 66 releases the treadle rod for movementlto a stoppingV position at the end of an operation on a shoe to throw the stopping mechanism into operation.

To disengage the shoe from the stitch-forming devices the bell crank lever 3'4 is depressed, stretching the springs 38 and lowering the jack supporting rod 32 by connections actuated by the pattern cam shaft in a manner similar to that b'y which the shoe is disengaged in the construction disclosed` in Patent No. 2,581,272. To this endv the horizontal arm of the bell crank lever is pivotally connected to a. toggle consisting of a pair of arms 68 and' 70- (see Figs. l, 2 and 3), the upper one, 70 of'which is secured to a lateral-ly extending rockshaft 72 rotatably mounted in a fixed part of the machine frame. forwardly extending lug on the toggle arm 7i) has a perforation through' which passes the lower end of a. toggle control rod 74 having a collar 76 arranged to engage the underside of theV forwardly extending lugk of theA a-ifm.

The upper end of the controlrod is connected 'to one arm of a bell crank lever 78 (see Fig; l) the other arm of which is connected by a link 80 to the auxiliary mecha` nism which is actuated by the driving and stopping mechanismin a manner 'more' fully described in: Paten-t No. 2,359,662'. After completing operatimsl on a shoe Briey, the connecthe toggle 68, 70 is straightened to a beyond-center locking position, lowering the shoe from the channell guidev 14 and permitting the jack tov swing forwardly under the influence of a tension` spring 82 connected between a downward extension of the jack spindle and the jack supporting rod 32.

In the machine of the prior patents the toggle which corresponds to the arms 63, 70 is yieldingly urged to a position of misalinement and the control rod, correspond ing to the rod 74, acts when raised against the yielding force applied to the toggle arms to straighten them. The yielding force on the toggle arms in the prior machine assists inv raising the jack with a new shoe against the channel guide. To break the toggle of the prior machine it is necessary only to force the jack downwardly so that the toggle will be relieved of pressure from the springs, corresponding to those at 38 to raise the jack. As soon as the toggle arms are freed from the force of the jack raising springs they are yieldingly' broughtinto positions of misalinement a-nd-l the jack released for upward' movement. In some instances however it has been found de*- sirable to lower the jack and to alinel the toggley arms' again while the jack is in lowered position before' the machine is restarted. If the toggle arms are yieldingly urged to broken or misalined position, as in the patented machine, it will be necessary to exert a heavy force with a sudden impact manually on the jack. against the action of the jack-raising springs as well asagainst the yielding force tending tog break the toggle arms. Exertion of such heavy force is not only exhausting to the operator but often uncertain as to reliability of results.

To enable the jacked shoe to be lowered from engagement with the channel guide and to realineA the toggle arms 68', 76 reliably without application of a sudden heavy downward force on the jack in` the illustrated machine, the toggle arms 68, Til are yieldingly urged' to straightened positions of alinement ratherV than to positions of misalinement as in the prior machine. A non-yieldingly connected pedal is employed to move the toggle positively in a direction from straightenedY to broken position. To this end the central joint of the arms 68, 70' is connectedl with a spring 84 (Figs. 2 and 3) stretched between their central joint and a fixed part of the main machine frame forwardly of the toggle arms in a relationV to insure straightening the toggle when downward pressure is exerted'. Accordingly,` a downward' pressure exertedon ther jack need only' overcome the upward force of the jack raising springs 38 to insure locking the jack iny lowered position. the jack the bell crank lever' 34 has pivotally mounted at its outer end the foot. pedal having a foot operatedv pad on a lever 86. A portion of the foot pad is located' di:- rectl'y above' a pivotal mountingy indicated at 96; for the pedal: lever so that upon application of pressure ont the foot pad at its' rearward edge it is moved bodily with the yielding bell crank 324 and the jack islowered away from the operating means and locked by the' toggle with-v 86 is connected. tol a rearwardly extending, link 88 also pivotally connected to a central portion of the toggle arm 7'0. The foot pad on the pedall lever 86 extends forwardly of its pivotal mounting so that when de'- pressed with a rocking movement about its pivot on the bell crank 354v it exerts a direct force opposed to thc straightening spring 34' in a direction to break the alinement of the toggle arms. Pressure on the forward edge of the food pad. will cause the toggle to be broken andl tire Ajaclr thereafter raised yieldingly by the springs 38. Thus, the pedal lever is operable both to break the toggle Tol assist in depressing avoasoo positively and to lock the shoe on the jack in a lowered position away from the operating means.

In the prior machine for some types of shoes requiring extreme pitch and roll tipping movements a relatively large swinging movement is imposed on the horizontal supporting arm 22 as well as upon the pitch support lever 24 (see'Figs. 1 and 4). lf these swinging movements cause the supporting arm and pitch lever to assume a suiiiciently small angular relation the components of upward force of the jack raising springs 38 exerted through the supporting rod 32 tend to disturb the roll and pitch movements and to render it diiiicult to return the jack to a position with the pitch and roll levers vwithin. their normal range of angular relationship, the parts becoming cramped against free movement. t

` ln order to correct this difliculty and to provide a jack supporting structure which is readily adapted for operation upon shoes including those requiring extreme pitch and roll movements, the present invention contemplates the provision of a compensating mechanism comprising a single centering spring acting on the jack supporting arm 22 to bias the shoe toward a neutral intermediate position in which the thrust of the supporting rod 32, tending to accentuate the pitch and roll movements of the jack, is automatically balanced as the pitch and roll levers approach an angular relationship beyond which cramping occurs. In this way the thrust of the supporting rod is directed with proper force toward the point of operation 'of the operating devices in the machine rather than away from the point of operation regardless of the position of the supporting rod. The use of a single jack centering spring to balance the pitch and roll movements of the jack is an improvement over that disclosed in a copending application for United States Letters Patent, Serial No. 386,551, led October 16, 1953, in the name of Frank E. Cole, the advantage of the present construction being that it is simpler, less expensive and enables the use of a longer spring having a more nearly uniform compressional resistance.

The compensating mechanism is best shown in Figs. l, 4 and 5, in which the jack supporting arm 22 has secured to it a socket 92 forming a swivel connection with one end of a balancing link 94. The other end of the balancing link is slidingly mounted within a coil spring 96 which surrounds the link. The spring 96 is compressed within a housing 98 pivotally mounted for universal movement on a bracket 100 on the machine frame, the ends of the housing being provided with collars 102 acting to confine the spring from expansion. The collars 102 are screwed securely to the ends of the housing and the collar at one end of the housing engages a shouldered sleeve 104 against which one end of the spring presses and at the other end of the housing the collar 102 engages a shouldered tube 106 supporting the other end of the spring. The link 94 passes loosely through the shouli dered sleeve and tube.

To restrict the movement of the link 94 in one direction through the sleeve, the sleeve 104 is provided with a lost motion connection comprising a cross pin 108 passing through a slot 110 in the link. At the other end of the housing the tube 106 has a pair of lost motion slots 112 engaged by the ends of a pin 114 carried by the extreme end of the link 94. The arrangement is such that as the supporting arm 22 swings to the right or rearwardly the sleeve 104 is moved inwardly ot' the housing 98 against the compression of the entire spring 96, the pin 114 on the rod sliding idly in the slots 112. When the supporting arm 22 swings to the left or forwardly the tube 106 is moved by the pin 114 inwardly of the housing 98 against the compression of the spring 96, the link 94 sliding idly in the sleeve 104 by reason of the slot 110 through which the pin 108 passes. The greater the extent of movement in any direction the greater is the compression of the single spring, the disturbing components of pitch and roll being thereby cornpensated for in a direct manner.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and a particular embodiment having been described, what is claimed is:

1. An automatic machine having a main frame, devices for operating upon a shoe, a shoe supporting jack relatively movable to transfer the point of operation along the sole margin of a shoe, supporting and actuating mechanisms for the jack including a pattern cam shaft and yielding means acting to present a shoe on the jack to the operating devices, a toggle arranged when straightened to move the jacked shoe against the action of the yielding means away from the operating devices, and connections actuated by the pattern cam shaft at the end of an operation on a shoe to straighten the toggle, in combination with a pedal pivotally mounted for rocking movement on the yielding means, operable bodily with the yielding means to move the shoe away from the operating devices independently of the pattern cam actuated connections and non-yieldingly connected to the toggle in opposition to the action ot' the pattern cam connections to break the toggle as the pedal is rocked about its pivotal mounting on the yielding means.

2. An automatic machine having a main frame, devices for operating upon a shoe, a shoe supporting jack relatively movable to transfer the point of operation along the sole margin of a shoe, supporting and actuating mechanisms for the jack including a pattern. cam shaft and yielding means acting to present a shoe on the jack to the operating devices, a toggle arranged when straightened to move the jacked shoe against the action of the yielding means away from the operating devices, and connections actuated by the pattern cam shaft at the end of an operation on a shoe to straighten the toggle, in combination with a pivotally mounted pedal operable bodily with the yielding means to move the shoe away from the operating devices independently of the pattern cam actuated connections and non-yieldingly connected in opposition to the action of the pattern cam connections to break the toggle as the pedal is moved about its pivotal mounting on the yielding means, and spring means connected to the toggle in a relation to straighten it.

3. An automatic machine having a main machine frame, devices for operating upon a shoe., a shoe supporting jack, a jack supporting structure including a horizontally disposed jack supporting arm and means for supporting the jack for rotary and swinging movement from the arm, a bell crank, a jack supporting rod connecting the bell crank and the jack supporting arm, yielding means acting on the bell crank to present the jacked shoe to the operaiing devices, a toggle between the bell crank and the frame arranged when straightened to move the bell crank and shoe on the jack away from the operating devices, said toggle having a straightened, beyond-center locking position and a foot pedal'pivotally supported upon the bell crank for rocking movement thereon, in combination with a non-yielding connection between the pedal and the toggle opposed to the action of the yielding means to move the toggle positively in a direction from straightened to broken position as the foot petal is rocked about its pivot on the bell crank.

4. An automatic machine having a. main machine frame, devices for operating upon a shoe, a shoe supporting jack, a jack supporting structure including a horizontally disposed jack supporting arm and means for supporting the jack for rotary and swinging movement from the arm, a bell crank, a jack supporting rod connecting the bell crank and the jack supporting arm, yielding means acting on the bell crank to present the jacked shoe to the operating devices, a toggle between the bell crank and the frame arranged when straightened to move the bell crank and shoe on the jack away from the operating devices, said toggle having a straightened beyond-center locking position and a foot pedal pivotally supported aofsgsaoo upon the bell crank ,for rocking movement thereon, in combination with a non-yielding connection between the pedal and the toggle responsive to a rocking movement ofthe pedal about its pivot on the bell crank to move the toggle from straightened to broken position vand yielding means vconnected to the toggle for .straightening it to retain the shoe on the .jack out of engagement with the operating devices when vthe pressure on the treadle is released.

5. A shoe machine having a main frame, devices in the frame for operating about the sole margin of a shoe, an automatically actuated shoe support comprising Ja jack, an upright jack support spindle, la jack supporting structure of levers in vthe frame upon which zthe lower end of the spindle is pivotally mounted rfor tipping and turning movements, said supporting structure including a jack supporting arm, and means for raising the supporting arm to maintain the shoe Von the jack in engagement with thc operating devices including a spring actuated lever in the frame below the jack supporting armvand a jack supportf ing rod connected between the spring actuated lever and the arm, in combination with a single centering spring mounted on the frame and arranged to bias the jack supporting arm and rod toward a neutral intermediate position, in which the thrust of the rod is directed toward `the operating devices and a link pivotally connected at one end to the jack supporting arm and operatively connected at the other end to both ends of the spring through lost motion connections for compressing the entire spring when the rod is moved by the supporting arm either side of the intermediate position.

6. A shoe machine having a main machine frame, devices for operating `about the sole margin of `'a shoe, an automatically actuated shoe support comprising a jack, an upright .jack support spindle, a jack supporting structure lof ylevers upon which the lower end of the lspindle is pivotally mounted for tipping and turning movements, said supporting structure including a jack supporting arm, a spring `actuated lever below the jack supporting arm and a jack supporting rod connected between the spring actuated lever and the arm to maintain the `shoe on the jack in engagement with the operating devices, in combination with a single centering spring arranged to bias the jack supporting arm and rod toward a neutral intermediate position, in which the thrust of the rod is directed toward the operating devices, a link pivotally connected at one e'nd to the jack `supporting arm and operatively connected at the other end to both ends of the spring through a lost motion connection for compressing the entire spring when the rod is moved by the supporting arm either side of the intermediate position and a housing surrounding the spring and pivotally connected to the machine frame with its ends acting to confine the 'spring from expansion.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,581,272 Miller Jan. 1, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 412,838 France July 23, 1910 

